Crack cocaine ‘sold at pocket money prices’
Class A drugs ‘trendy’ as professionals are lured in by county lines dealers
CRACK cocaine has become ‘ fashionable’ among young professionals as county lines gangs sell it for ‘pocket money prices’, a report warns.
The Class A drug has become ‘first choice’ for students and even 17year- olds who consider it ‘ more acceptable’ due to increased affordability and availability, the government review found.
County lines drug dealers are luring customers with Buy One, Get One Free offers, free samples and ‘ happy hour’ deals. In some areas, crack cocaine is sold for £5 a rock.
One addict said: ‘It’s an epidemic. Use is skyrocketing.’ There was such demand on one university campus that a group of students set up their own county lines- style drug dealing operation, a joint Home Office and Public Health England inquiry found.
Crack is a white or yellow crystal form of cocaine that is usually smoked. Possession carries a prison sentence of up to seven years.
The number of adults starting treatment after using crack cocaine in England leapt by a fifth between 2015 and 2018, figures show. The number of users rose 8.5 per cent in five years, from 166,640 in 2011- 12 to 180,748 in 2016-2017.
The review identified a ‘hidden cohort’ getting hooked as young as 17. It warned: ‘Some reported that crack use was beginning to become more acceptable, even fashionable among groups who would not previously have taken it. This included professionals, students and clubbers. In one area with a large university student population, there was a that dealers were successfully infiltrating these groups.’
Treatment workers also said more women were using crack. One drug addict said: ‘Lots of young people are using crack – my daughter’s 17 and her friends are using it at parties.’ Another said it no longer had a stigma, adding: ‘Kids think it is not as serious as heroin.’
The report concluded: ‘Some workers had seen that more young people were using crack as a “first drug of choice”.’ Rosanna O’Connor, director for drugs, alcohol, tobacco and justice at PHE, said: ‘This report will come as no surprise to those on the front line, who have seen first-hand this surge in crack use in communities.’
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott described the report as ‘truly shocking’ and claimed it ‘ highlights the reprehensible cuts to treatment centres and policing made by the Tories’.
Officials interviewed patients treated for crack addiction, drug treatment workers, and police in six areas of England.
In half of the regions analysed, county lines drug gangs were said to have played a ‘signifiview cant role’, having ‘flooded’ the area with young dealers. The National Crime Agency estimates that 10,000 UK children as young as 11 have been enslaved by the gangs.
Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins said: ‘The Government is committed to tackling the drugs trade, protecting the vulnerable and helping those with a drug dependency to recover.’
More than 1,000 youths have gone missing after being sent to live in children’s homes miles away, figures reveal today.
MPs will now launch a Parliamentary inquiry over fears that many are being recruited by county lines gangs.
‘Kids think it’s not as serious as heroin’